Do Your Employees Focus on Making a Profit?

It’s basic human nature that once people are settled into a routine and become accustomed
to doing a certain job, many don’t bother to give the energy and creativity required to achieve
greater levels of accomplishment. This is probably true of some employees and managers in
almost every small business.

National Federation of Independent Business

But for a company to grow, it’s necessary for staff to focus on
making the company more profitable, not just on getting through each day by performing
only the basic requirements. In today’s Workshop, Jeffrey Moses outlines seven key areas in
which all employees and managers need to excel, and thereby help their company increase
profitability.

1. Focus on getting things done effectively, not just on going through the motions.

Long-time employees and managers too often become slaves to the "process" of internal
operations, without dedicating themselves to achieving results. If your company has staff that
seems more concerned with doing things according to the book, rather than doing things in
order to increase customer satisfaction (and thereby sales), they need to be re-directed.

2. Gear every internal process and activity toward the improvement of customer service.

Company policies for internal operations should be created not just to make things easier for
employees, but to help employees give better customer service.

3. Realize that every customer contact (no matter how brief) is a chance to "sell" the
customer on how hard and effectively the company will work for them.

From the moment customers call or walk in the door, they are evaluating whether they want
to do business with you. If your communications with them break down, customers may
leave and never come back–or worse, tell others about it.

4. Inspect or evaluate every product/service that goes out to customers.

There should be zero tolerance for mistakes. It’s hard enough to attract new customers, let
alone win back dissatisfied customers. Employees should examine everything that goes out
to the door, no matter the size or dollar amount of the order. A mistake costs very little when
caught before affecting a customer.

5. Follow all budget-cutting guidelines.

Employees and managers should always be looking for ways to trim costs, even without
mandates from the company’s owner. Employees/managers who think that budget
restrictions don’t apply to them are a drain on the entire company. Upper management
needs to keep careful watch to make sure that everyone respects financial instructions.

6. Avoid wasting company time by pursuing outside interests while at work.

Aside from the fact that time spent on outside pursuits wastes company resources, it
disrupts the focus of the entire organization.

7. Treat all customers as individuals, with unique and specific needs.

As soon as a company’s sales staff, management or service personnel begin thinking of
individual customers as "just another unit to be dealt with," the company’s cash flows and
profitability will be at risk.

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